The present disclosure relates generally to a nut and ferrule assembly for a tube connection in which the ferrule is positioned around the tube and assembling the nut onto a mating threaded connector presses the ferrule into sealing engagement with the surface of the tube.
Tube connections using a nut and ferrule have been known for many applications, for example a plumbing connection of a tube to a valve for a water supply line. In certain applications, a tube is used to connect the water supply valve to a faucet, toilet, or other plumbing fixture. In these applications, the water supply valve includes a threaded waterway outlet sized for receiving the tube end within the outlet. A nut and a ferrule is provided around the tube end such that the nut can be assembled onto the threaded outlet capturing the ferrule between the nut and the waterway outlet. The tightening of the nut onto the threaded outlet presses the ferrule into sealing engagement with the surface of the tube and the waterway outlet to seal the connection.
For many applications, the prior ferrules are small rings, such as for tubes having an outside diameter between about 1/16 inch and 1 inch. Many common prior ferrules are packaged separately from the nuts, requiring assembly of the prior ferrules separately from the prior nuts. As such, placing the prior ferrules onto a tube end could be challenging. Typically, the nut was placed onto the tube end before the ferrule. When the assembler installed the ferrule and forgot to install the nut first, the ferrule had to be removed for the nut to be placed, adding inefficiency to the installation. Additionally, some ferrules have a front and a back, with the sealing surface geometry having to be oriented properly during assembly. When the ferrule was assembled backwards, the connection could leak. Further, the tightening of a backward ferrule could damage the ferrule to the extent that it could not be used again.